ClinicalTrials.gg
Active, not recruitingNCT04967521Updated Oct 5, 2026

SARC041: Study of Abemaciclib Versus Placebo in Patients With Advanced Dedifferentiated Liposarcoma

A Phase 3 interventional study of Abemaciclib and Placebo in Advanced Dedifferentiated Liposarcoma, sponsored by Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration. Active, not recruiting at 9 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-05.

Sponsored by Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration · Phase 3, Interventional, and Treatment

Updated Oct 5, 2026Primary completion movedStudy completion moved+2 moreGo to Updates ↓
Phase
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
108
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This is a Phase 3 randomized double-blind study of abemaciclib versus placebo. Patients with progression of disease will cross over to open label abemaciclib.

Read the detailed description

This is a phase 3, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of patients with advanced, recurrent and/or metastatic DDLS.

Patients will be randomized 1:1 between abemaciclib and placebo and followed for disease progression. For those patients with progression of disease (by RECIST) on placebo, crossover to active drug will be offered to patients if they remain eligible for the clinical trial in all other respects. Unblinding and crossover is only allowed for radiographic progression (not clinical progression). Real-time radiology review by the treating physician will allow for rapid crossover for patients with progression on placebo. If patients are deemed to have disease that is too rapidly progressive to be considered for a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, they should be excluded from consideration.

02

Conditions studied

  • Advanced Dedifferentiated Liposarcoma

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03

In context

Liposarcoma

160 studies on the registry are indexed under Liposarcoma; 36 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 108 is above the median of 52 across 136 interventional studies indexed under Liposarcoma.

Browse Liposarcoma studies →

Lead sponsor

Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration is the lead sponsor of 23 studies on the registry; 2 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Age ≥ 18 years
  • confirmed diagnosis of dedifferentiated liposarcoma which is locally recurrent and/or . This study will accept the diagnosis made at the investigator's center.
  • Performance Status of 0 or 1.
  • At least one site of on CT/MRI scan as defined by 1.1 criteria. Baseline imaging must be performed within 28 days of Day 1 of study.
  • Adequate organ function
  • The patient can swallow oral medications.
  • Patients who received radiotherapy must have completed and fully recovered from the acute effects of radiotherapy. A of at least 14 days is required between end of radiotherapy and randomization.
  • Patients who received chemotherapy must have recovered ( [CTCAE] Grade ≤1) from the acute effects of chemotherapy except for residual alopecia or Grade 2 peripheral neuropathy prior to randomization. A washout period of at least 21 days is required between last chemotherapy dose and randomization (provided the patient did not receive radiotherapy).
  • Written, voluntary
  • Fertile men and women of must agree to use a highly effective method of during the treatment period and for 3 weeks after last study drug administration in both sexes. Women of childbearing potential include pre-menopausal women and women within the first 2 years of the onset of menopause. Women of childbearing potential must have a negative pregnancy test ≤ seven days of the first dose of abemaciclib.
  • Highly effective methods of birth control include an intrauterine device [IUD] or barrier method. If condoms are used as a barrier method, a spermicidal agent should be added as a double barrier protection.
  • Measurable disease and evidence of progression of disease as defined by RECIST 1.1 (including newly diagnosed disease, new disease sites in a patient who was previously NED, or a 20% growth of existing lesions within 6 months of registration).
  • Patients with central nervous system disease are eligible for enrollment if they have received prior radiotherapy or surgery within 3 months from completion of therapy to sites of CNS metastatic disease and are without evidence of clinical progression.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with documentation of well-differentiated liposarcoma only are specifically excluded, owing to its characteristically slow growth. If high grade areas are suspected (dedifferentiation), but not proved by pathology analysis (e.g. after primary resection of a well-differentiated liposarcoma), a must be performed to demonstrate the high-grade dedifferentiated disease. If there is a question regarding the diagnosis, the PI should be consulted.
  • Patients with bulky disease who urgently need cytotoxic chemotherapy (likely with doxorubicin + ifosfamide) will be excluded from this study. This is determined by the treating physician. If there is a question regarding the appropriateness of the patient for enrollment, the PI should be consulted.
  • Prior systemic therapy with abemaciclib or any other selective CDK4 inhibitor (such as palbociclib)
  • Concurrent, , active within 12 months of study enrollment
  • Patients with severe and/or uncontrolled concurrent medical disease that in the opinion of the investigator could cause unacceptable safety risks or compromise compliance with the protocol
  • Major surgery within 3 weeks prior to Day 1 of study or who have not recovered adequately from prior surgery
  • Patients with resectable for curative intent disease
  • Patients that have GI absorption disorders that would impact the administration of oral abemaciclib.
  • Women who are pregnant or nursing/breastfeeding.
  • Known to abemaciclib.
  • Patients with untreated central nervous system disease.
  • Inability to comply with protocol required procedures
  • Patients currently taking the following drugs may interact with abemaciclib. Please refer to Section 5.2 of protocol.
  • The patient has serious and/or uncontrolled preexisting medical condition(s) that, in the judgment of the investigator, would preclude participation in this study (for example, interstitial lung disease, severe dyspnea at rest or requiring oxygen therapy, severe renal impairment [e.g. estimated \<30ml/min], history of major surgical resection involving the stomach or small bowel, or preexisting Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis or a preexisting chronic condition resulting in baseline Grade 2 or higher diarrhea).
  • The patient has active systemic bacterial infection (requiring intravenous [IV] antibiotics at time of initiating study treatment), fungal infection, or detectable viral infection (such as known positivity or with known active or C [for example, hepatitis B surface antigen positive]. Screening is not required for enrollment.
  • The patient has a personal history of any of the following conditions: syncope of cardiovascular etiology, ventricular arrhythmia of pathological origin (including, but not limited to, ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation), or sudden cardiac arrest.
  • The patient has received an experimental treatment in a clinical trial within the last 30 days or 5 half-lives, whichever is longer, prior to randomization, or is currently enrolled in any other type of medical research (for example: medical device) judged by the sponsor not to be scientifically or medically compatible with this study.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(17)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Histologically or cytologically confirmed

The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).

Your pathology report is the document that shows this.

Metastases

Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

Measurable disease

The amount of disease can be tracked with a defined measurement, so the study can see whether it shrinks or grows. It might be a tumour measured on a scan or, in some blood cancers such as myeloma, a marker measured in blood or urine.

The criteria or the study team say which measurement counts — having no tumour visible on a scan does not by itself rule you out.

RECIST

The standard rules for measuring tumours on CT or MRI scans, to tell whether a cancer is shrinking, stable or growing during treatment.

“Measurable disease per RECIST 1.1” usually means at least one tumour 10 mm or more at its longest on a CT scan, or a lymph node 15 mm or more across its short axis.

Washout period

A planned gap after a treatment, so that its effects can lessen before the study treatment or a study assessment. Ask the study team and the doctor who prescribed it before changing any medicine.

CTCAE grade

The US National Cancer Institute’s scale of how severe an adverse event is — any unwanted medical event during a study, such as a symptom, an illness or an abnormal test result, whether or not a treatment caused it. Whether it did is judged separately.

1
Mild.
2
Moderate.
3
Severe.
4
Life-threatening.
5
Death due to the event.

“Side effects of earlier treatment resolved to grade 1 or less” means they have settled to mild or gone.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Childbearing potential

Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).

Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Biopsy and archival tissue

A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.

Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.

Clinically significant

Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

Hypersensitivity

An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.

Creatinine clearance (CrCl)

How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Hepatitis B tests

Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.

Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Crossover assignment
Masking
Triple (Participant, Care provider, Investigator)
Enrollment
108 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Abemaciclib

    Abemaciclib will be administered 200mg orally twice a day. Each cycle is 28 days.

    Drug: Abemaciclib

  • Placebo comparator
    Placebo Arm

    Patients will be randomized 1:1 and will receive placebo if they are randomized to the placebo arm of the study. Each cycle is 28 days.

    Drug: Placebo

Interventions

  • Abemaciclib will be administered 200mg orally twice a day. Each cycle is 28 days.

    Also known as: LY2835219

  • DrugPlacebo

    Placebo will be administered orally twice a day. Each cycle is 28 days.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. To determine the progression-free survival of patients treated with abemaciclib versus placebo

    PFS is defined as the duration of time from start of treatment to time of progression or death, whichever occurs first.

    Time frame: 5 years

Secondary outcomes

  1. To determine the objective response rate by RECIST 1.1

    A patient will be deemed to have an objective response if they have a confirmed complete response or partial response as determined by RECIST v1.1

    Time frame: 5 years

  2. To determine PFS after crossover for patients initially randomized to placebo

    PFS after crossover will only be determined for patients who were randomized to placebo. It will be measured from the start of abemaciclib treatment until the occurrence of disease progression or death due to any cause prior to documented disease progression.

    Time frame: 5 years

  3. To determine overall survival

    The length of time from the start of treatment that patients diagnosed with sarcoma are still alive.

    Time frame: 5 years

07

Study locations

9 sites
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

1 registry update since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedDate before it movedWhere the date was before it moved

Started Nov 2021 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Dec 2027, 73 months after the start.

Since we started tracking on Sep 25, 2026, the dates moved once, on Oct 5, 2026: primary completion Dec 2025 → Dec 2027 and completion Dec 2026 → Dec 2027.

Earlier changes are on the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Jul 8, 2021
First posted
Jul 19, 2021
StartActual
Nov 11, 2021
Primary completionEst.
Dec 2027was Dec 2025
CompletionEst.
Dec 2027was Dec 2026
Last update
Oct 5, 2026
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
Sites
1 site added, 1 site removed
Show site
  • Washington University School of Medicine · St Louis, United States
Show 1 removed
  • Washington University School of Medicine · St. Louis, United States
Oct 5, 2026
Primary completion
Dec 2025→Dec 2027
Oct 5, 2026
Study completion
Dec 2026→Dec 2027
Oct 5, 2026
Show all 1 update
  1. Oct 5, 2026
    1 site added, 1 site removed
    Show site
    • Washington University School of Medicine · St Louis, United States
    Show 1 removed
    • Washington University School of Medicine · St. Louis, United States
    Primary completion Dec 2025→Dec 2027
    Study completion Dec 2026→Dec 2027
    + 4 other changes: index terms, identifiers, verification date and oversight details

From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04967521
Lead sponsor
Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jul 19, 2021
Start date
Nov 11, 2021
Primary completion
Dec 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Oct 5, 2026

Study contacts

Mark Dickson, MD
principal investigator · Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Sep 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

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Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Studies of the drug tested here: Abemaciclib

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